Sharpening and deburring tool for single and double edge type cutting blades

ABSTRACT

A hand-held sharpening/whetting tool has a body including a handle blade guide and finger/hand guard. The tool body has first and second end sections and an open-ring mid section. The end sections are provided with diverse sharpening/whetting elements for use in a first use mode and a third sharpening/whetting element is positioned on the finger/hand guard within the open-ring mid section for use in a second use mode.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to hand tools and, more particularly, to hand held sharpening and deburring tools adapted for sharpening and deburring a variety of configurations of blade edges.

BACKGROUND

Many types and varieties of sharpening and deburring tools are known in the art for convergent-edged bladed implements used in home, business, sports, commercial and industrial environments. Such implements may be provided with processing elements which are adapted to sharpen/deburr/whet either a two-sided blade such as a knife, cleaver, hatchet or the like blade or a one-sided blade such as a scissors or shear blade. These functions are usually obtained by locating processing elements at one or more locations on the tool. An example of this type of sharpening and deburring tool is disclosed in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,599. This patent, along with my prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,488,885 and 5,679,068, are also exemplary of a configuration providing a unitary blade guide, handle and finger/hand guard. With these tools, the handle may be gripped so that the user's gripping hand is shielded from the cutting blade being sharpened as the tool is drawn along the cutting blade during the sharpening/deburring/whetting process. The versatility of this type of tool has been somewhat limited in the past, especially with regard to one-sided blade implements, due to the rather wide variance in not only the size of the implement blade, but also the angle between the flat face on one side of the blade and the converging cutting surface on the opposite side of the blade. This variance in size and configuration occurs between such implements as garden shears and much smaller implements such as common household scissors.

SUMMARY

A hand-held sharpening/deburring/whetting tool is provided which has a body including a handle, blade guide and finger/hand guard with the body incorporating a plurality of processing elements. The tool body has first and second end sections and a third mid section. Diverse processing elements, such as sharpening/deburring/whetting elements which may be mounted on the end sections, are positioned to be drawn along a blade with the hand guard means shielding the user's tool gripping hand as the tool is moved in a first use mode. For use in this mode, the tool body may be provided with a blade guide means for confining and guiding a blade during the sharpening/deburring/whetting process. The third section is located between the processing elements of the first and second end sections and comprises an elongated handle on an upper side of the body and an elongated blade guide and hand guard extending inwardly of the end sections. The handle and hand guard form an elongated ring inward of the end sections with sufficient space for a user's fingers to extend between the handle and the hand guard. The blade guide depends from the hand guard. A third processing element is positioned along the extent of the hand guard and may be oriented for processing a blade drawn through the processing element in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis of the tool in a second use mode, providing even further diversity in the processing units. In the second use mode, the tool may be hand gripped along the handle section exterior of the elongated open ring of the body. With this structure, the tool may be adapted for use on V-shaped double sided blades such as knives and the like as well as various sizes of single edge blades requiring sharpening on one side only, ranging from garden tools, shears and pruners to household scissors.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the hand-held sharpener/deburrer tool;

FIG. 2 is a right side elevational view of the tool;

FIG. 3 is a left side elevational view of the tool;

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of the tool;

FIG. 5 is a rear elevational view of the tool;

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of the tool;

FIG. 7 is a bottom plan view of the tool;

FIG. 8 is an expanded perspective view of the tool;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view illustrating use of the tool for sharpening a knife blade in the first use mode with the tool applied to the knife blade and with the blade tracking in the blade guide;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view illustrating use of the tool for sharpening a single edge blade such as a scissors with the scissors blade being drawn through the elongated ring of the handle and across the third processing element in the second use mode;

FIG. 11 is a perspective detail view of the processing element mounted on the hand guard;

FIG. 11A is a partial elevational view of the processing element of FIG. 11 with the blade being sharpened shown in cross section; and

FIG. 12 is an exploded perspective detail view of a modified mounting structure for mounting the processing element on the hand guard.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT

The hand-held sharpening-deburring tool 10 includes a tool body 11 having a hand/finger guard section 12, a blade guide section 13, and a handle grip section 14. The sharpening/deburring/whetting insert members 16 and 17 are fastened to the front and rear sections 18 and 19 of the body 11 respectively. It will be understood, of course, that the designations front and rear end sections of the tool are used as a matter of ease of description only with respect to the present embodiment. The designation of front and rear end sections of the tool body could be reversed without changing the scope or intent of the present invention.

The end sections 18 and 19 of the tool body in the present embodiment are provided with thumb rests 21 and 22 respectively above each insert mounting. It will be noted that the insert mountings and thumb rests are located both forwardly and rearwardly of the handle grip section 14, the blade guide section 13, and the hand/finger guard section 12. Consequently, the tool is double-ended in that a user's thumb may be rested on thumb rest 21 to apply the sharpening/deburring/whetting members 16 as shown in FIG. 9, or the user's thumb may be rested on thumb rest 22 to apply the sharpening/deburring/whetting insert members 17. The main part of the tool body 11 is formed as a longitudinally elongated flattened ring. The upper part of this flattened ring is provided by the handle grip section 14 and the bottom part is provided by the hand/finger guard section 12. The interior 23 of this flattened ring is long enough and high enough to accommodate a user's fingers when the user wraps his/her fingers around the upper part in a gripping fashion when the tool is used in the first use mode as shown in FIG. 9. Gripping the ring thusly naturally places the user's thumb on either the thumb rest 21 or 22 and the bottom of the ring naturally forms the finger/hand guard.

The blade guide section 13 depends from the finger/hand guard 12. Section 13 comprises a pair of depending walls 13 a, 13 b which have interior facing surfaces 13 c, 13 d that are upwardly convergent when inverted as viewed in FIGS. 4 and 5. The walls 13 a, 13 b may be V-shaped in cross section as can be seen FIGS. 4, 5 and 7.

The sharpening/deburring/whetting inserts 16 may be rectangularly shaped flat members made of various known materials such as tungsten carbide, stone, ceramics or the like suitable for blade sharpening. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, each blade has a ground face to be employed in the sharpening/deburring process with the ground faces intersected and overlaid as shown to provide convergent sharpening/deburring working edges that define a V-shape notch. The ground faces of the inserts 16 may be beveled at about 5° so that the faces themselves lie in convergent planes. Therefore, the cutting edges of a knife blade or like device may be rested upon the working edges of the insert 16 to deburr the cutting edges as shown in FIG. 9. The outside front corners of the insert 16 may also be rounded as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4. Inserts 16 are received in overlying abutting relationship and held in such relationship as a result of being secured within the tool body 11.

As illustrated most clearly in FIG. 8, the tool body 11 may be formed by two mating halves 11 a and 11 b with each mating body portion including an insert retainer such as shown at 24 in FIG. 8 to securely mount one of the associated inserts in the overlapping relationship when the mating body portions are joined as shown in FIGS. 1-5 and 7. The body portions may be clamped together by means of screw threaded fasteners 26 which engage complementary mating internally threaded fastener bases 27. In this manner, the two halves of the inserts are clamped into position but may be replaced after wear by simply removing the screw threaded members 26 to allow the inserts to be removed. In the alternative, the inserts may be held in place by molding the body 11 around the inserts or by fastening the inserts into a slot or the like provided in the body 11 in the event that a unitary molding is utilized.

The sharpening/deburring/whetting inserts 17 may be similarly fixed in the body portions by means of the insert retainers 28 on the opposite end of the tool body in the manner previously described for the inserts 16. Referring to FIGS. 5 and 7, the sharpening/deburring/whetting inserts 17 may also be generally rectangularly shaped flat members made of appropriate material. One insert 17 a may be fabricated from a material such as tungsten carbide or other materials such as described relative to the inserts 16. The other insert 17 b may be fabricated from a material such as steel or the like. Insert 17 a has a ground face to be employed in a sharpening/deburring process as previously described while the insert 17 b has an unsharpened face complementary to the ground face of the insert 17 a to provide a guide for single edge blades, such as shears and the like, to be sharpened on one side only. With respect to inserts 17, the faces are intersected and overlapped as shown in FIG. 5 to provide convergent edges that define a V-shaped notch, the surface on insert 17 a being a working edge for sharpening/deburring the beveled aspect of the single edged blade and the complementary surface on insert 17 b being a guide edge to position the flat side of the blade being sharpened. The faces of inserts 17 a and 17 b may be appropriately beveled as previously described relative to the inserts 16, so that the faces themselves lie in convergent planes. It will be understood also that the inserts 17 are securely held in the tool body as previously described with relation to the inserts 16. When the tool is employed in the first use mode, the tool is placed over a blade, such as the knife blade 29 as shown in FIG. 9, with the webs 13 a, 13 b of the blade guide 13 disposed on either side of a blade 29. As is apparent from FIG. 9, the inverted V-shaped notch of the blade guide will guide the blade edge into the proper relationship with the inserts 16 for sharpening/deburring. The V-shaped notch, defined by the inner surfaces 13 c, 13 d of the webs 13 a, 13 b, is longitudinally elongated, underlying and extending substantially the whole length of the flattened ring of the body 11. The bottom of the notch is located at the base of the finger/hand guard 12 so that the knife blade edge will be guided longitudinally through the sharpening/deburring insert 16 just below the finger/hand guard 12. The inserts 16 extend forwardly and outwardly at an obtuse angle from the front end section 18 so that they will form an acute angle with respect to the blade edge to be sharpened/deburred. In operation, the blade being sharpened/deburred is thus shielded from the user's hand and, when the tool is pulled beyond of tip of the blade 29, the front end section 18 continues to shield the user's knuckles and thumb. In order to process a single edge blade, the tool would be simply reversed from the condition just described so that the user's thumb would be placed on the thumb rest 22.

According to the present invention a third processing element, providing a second use mode for sharpening/deburring still other blade configurations, is provided by a third processing assembly 31 located on the hand/finger guard 12 as shown in detail in FIGS. 11 and 11A. As previously described relative to FIG. 8, the tool body 11 in the present embodiment may be constructed from two mating body portions 11 a and 11 b. These mating body portions may be essentially mirror images except for the details of the clamping screw threaded members 26. Thus, when assembled as shown in FIG. 1, the mating body portions together form the flat surface of the hand/finger guard 12. As most clearly illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 8, each of the two mating body portions is provided with a transversely directed aligned channel structure comprising complementary side surfaces 32 and 33 which define a transverse groove or channel extending completely across the surface of the hand/finger guard 12. Although, in the illustrated embodiment, the transverse groove is preferably located at the mid point of the surface 12, it will be understood that the groove can be located at other convenient positions along the surface and need not be exactly normal to the longitudinal axis of the tool. In order to index or locate and align the faces 32 and 33, an alignment slot, such as shown 34 in FIGS. 11 and 11A, may be provided in one of the body halves 11 a-11 b and it will be understood that the opposite mating face on the other body portion will be formed with a key or rib to engage the slot 34 for alignment. It will also be understood that the order of the key end slot arrangement may be reversed from that shown in FIGS. 11 and 11A without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

In order to provide seating for a third sharpening/deburring insert 36, an insert retainer structure 37 is molded into the wall of the body portion 11 a as shown in FIGS. 11 and 11A. It will be understood, of course, that a mating structure is formed in the body portion 11 b (not shown) such that, when the body portions are mated and aligned, a retainer well 38 is formed for the reception of the bottom end of the insert member 36. The dimensions of the well 38 are such that approximately one-half of the thickness of the insert member 36 is contained in each body portion when they are assembled. FIG. 11A illustrates the inserted position of the insert member 36 in the well 38. With regard to the insert member 36, it will be constructed from such material as tungsten carbide or the like as described previously relative to the inserts 16. The top end of the insert 36 as viewed in FIGS. 11 and 11A is provided with an inclined ground surface or face 39, the degree of slope of the surface 39 being variable depending on the angle of the cutting surface of a one sided blade of an implement such as the common household scissors. The ground face 39 provides the working edge for the sharpening/deburring process.

As seen most clearly in FIG. 11A, the vertical exposed flat face 33 of the transverse slot in the hand/finger guard 12 provides a guide surface for the flat face 42 of the one sided blade to be sharpened/deburred. The insert member 36 may be held in the well 38 by means of the clamping action when the halves 11 a and 11 b of the tool body are clamped together by the screw threaded fasteners 26. In the alternative, if the tool body is a single molded piece, the insert member 36 may be molded into the body of the tool as described relative to the inserts 16 and 17. It is conceivable that still other means may be used for securely retaining the insert member 36 within the well 38 without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. FIG. 10 illustrates the manner in which the tool is utilized in the second use mode involving the processing element 31. The tool body 11 may be gripped and supported by the user's hand or may be hand-held and placed on a flat surface such as a table top or the like 43 as illustrated in FIG. 10. The one sided blade 41 may then be drawn through the transverse groove in the second use mode with the insert 36 providing the sharpening/deburring function on the beveled blade edge and the surface 33 providing the back-up guide surface for the flat side of the blade.

FIG. 12 illustrates an alternative embodiment for locating a third processing assembly on the hand/finger guard 12 of the sharpening/deburring tool 10. The FIG. 12 embodiment effects only the structural mounting of the third processing assembly and the positioning of the sharpening/deburring insert 36 a. It will be understood that the balance of the structure of the deburring tool may be identical to that illustrated in FIGS. 1-10. As previously described, the mating body portions 11 c and 11 d, when assembled as shown in FIG. 1, form the flat surface of the hand/finger guard 12. Any form of alignment or indexing structures, such as the alignment slot 34 a or its equivalent with a mating key or rib (not shown) formed on the mating face of the opposite body portion may be utilized as described with respect FIGS. 11 and 11A. In the FIG. 12 embodiment, each of the two body portions is provided with a transversely directed aligned channel or groove, defined by the complementary side surfaces 32 a and 33 a. Although, in the FIG. 12 embodiment, the transverse groove extending across the surface of the hand/finger guard 12 is preferably located at the mid point of the surface, it will be understood that the groove can be located at other convenient positions along the surface and does not need to be exactly normal to the longitudinal axis of the tool. In this embodiment, the transverse groove in the body portion 11 c includes a projecting alignment pin 43 which is dimensioned to extend into the transverse groove of the mating body portion 11 d. The aligning pin 43 will serve to align the transverse channel or groove in the tool body. It will be understood that the indexing or aligning pin 43 may be molded into the mass of the body portion 11 c or may be otherwise secured in the transverse groove. An insert retainer structure 37 a is molded into the wall of the body portion 11 d such that, when the body portions are aligned and mated, a retainer well is formed for the reception of the bottom end of the insert member 36 a. As shown in the exploded view of FIG. 12, the insert 36 a will be inserted downwardly into the end of the transverse groove and is restrained in one direction within the groove by means of the shoulder extensions 46 and 47 on the outside surface of the body portion 11 d. With the insert 36 a dropped in position, the protrusion 43 will contact the inside surface of the insert and is dimensioned so as to clamp the insert 36 a against the shoulders 46 and 47 when the body portions are clamped together as previously described. The insert 36 a may be identical in structure and composition to that previously described for the insert 36 of FIG. 11.

As seen in FIG. 12, the vertical exposed flat face 33 a of the transverse slot in the surface of the hand/finger guard 12 provides a guide surface for the flat face of a one sided blade to be sharpened/deburred as previously described. The insert member 36 a is held in the well provided by the insert retainer structure 37 a by means of the clamping action of the body portions 11 c and 11 d when the screw threaded fasteners 26 are tightened. With the protrusion 43 clamping the insert 36 a against the shoulder elements 46 and 47, the insert is located on one side of one of the body portions 11 c and 11 d with the result of providing a significantly longer guide surface for a blade being drawn through the transverse groove in the second use mode described. It will be understood that the insert 36 a when seated in the retainer structure 37 a presents an inclined ground surface as the working edge for the sharpening/deburring process as described relative to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 11 and 11A.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments, it will be apparent that alternative structural or mechanical details, as well as variations in design, may be made in order to accomplish the objects of the invention. The scope of the invention, therefore, is only to be limited by the claims appended hereto.

The embodiments of the invention in which and exclusive property is claimed are defined as follows: 

1. A hand-held blade sharpener tool comprising, in combination; an open centered ring shaped body defined by spaced longitudinal handle and hand guard members, first blade sharpener means mounted on said body exterior of said ring and positioned to sharpen a blade shielded by said hand guard in a first use mode, and second blade sharpener means mounted on said body interior of said ring and positioned to sharpen a blade passed through said ring transverse to said hand guard in a second use mode.
 2. A hand-held blade sharpener tool comprising; a tool body including spaced longitudinal extending body members joined at opposite ends to form body end sections and an open central ring, external blade sharpener means mounted on the outer surface of at least one said body end sections for processing a blade to be sharpened passing along one said body members in a first use mode, and an interior blade sharpener means mounted on one said body members within said central ring for passing a blade to be sharpened as it is passed through said central ring in a direction transverse to said body members.
 3. A hand-held sharpener tool comprising; an open centered ring shaped body defined by an upper handle and a lower hand guard joined at their opposite ends to form first and second body end sections, exterior blade sharpener means mounted on the outer surface of at least one said end sections positioned for contacting a blade to be sharpened passing beneath said hand guard during a first use mode, a groove formed in the top surface of said hand guard extending transversely the full width thereof and providing a bottom and opposing side surfaces, a blade sharpener insert, an insert retainer formed in said hand guard and including a retainer well opening into the bottom surface of said groove and dimensioned to receive said blade sharpener insert, said insert extending into said transverse groove and including a sharpening edge for contacting a blade to be sharpened, said insert contacting one side surface of said groove and forming a V-shaped notch with the opposite side surface thereof, said opposite side surface forming a guide surface to receive the blade to be sharpened as it passes through said V-shaped notch during a second use mode.
 4. In a hand-held blade sharpener tool having a flattened open centered ring shaped body defined by a handle on an upper side and an elongated hand guard on the lower side extending in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the tool body, said hand guard including a top surface interior of said ring shaped body, said handle and said hand guard being joined at their opposite ends to form first and second body end sections, exterior blade sharpening means mounted on the outer surface of at least one said end sections exterior of said ring shaped body, said hand guard shielding a user's fingers from a knife blade passing therebeneath during a first use mode for applying said exterior sharpening means to a blade to be sharpened, an interior sharpening means located within said ring shaped body comprising; a groove formed in the top surface of said hand guard extending transversely the full width thereof and providing a bottom and opposing side surfaces, an interior blade sharpening insert, an insert retainer formed in said hand guard and including a retainer well opening into the bottom surface of said groove and dimensioned to receive and retain said interior blade sharpening insert, said interior blade sharpening insert extending into said transverse groove and including a sharpening edge for contacting a blade to be sharpened, said interior blade sharpening insert contacting one side surface of said groove and forming a V-shaped notch with the opposite side surface thereof, said opposite side surface forming a guide surface to receive the blade to be sharpened as it is passed through said V-shaped notch during a second use mode.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein; said exterior blade sharpening means includes exterior sharpener inserts located on the outer surface of each said first and second body end sections.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5, including; blade guide means extending between said body end sections providing a blade receiving channel along the outer surface of said hand guard to guide a blade to be sharpened as the tool is drawn therealong during said first use mode.
 7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said ring is elongated to provide a ring interior having a length and height sufficient to accommodate several fingers of a user's hand when the user grips said handle.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7 including a shallow cavity in the outer surface of said handle adjacent each said body end section, providing a thumb rest for the user's thumb during said first use mode.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein; said tool body is composed of mating halves, said exterior sharpener inserts and said interior blade sharpening insert being clamped between the body halves, and clamping means to clamp said body halves together.
 10. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein; said interior blade sharpening insert includes top and bottom portions, said bottom portion being received in the retainer well and the top portion extending into said groove, the top surface of said interior insert having a first surface in contact with said one side surface of the groove and a sharpening surface inclined downwardly therefrom in the direction of the opposite side surface of the groove to form said V-shaped notch, said sharpening edge comprising one inclined edge of said sharpening surface, whereby said opposite side surface of the groove provides a guide surface for the blade to be sharpened during the second use mode.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein; said tool body is composed of mating body portions, each said body portion having an outside surface and a mating surface, said inset retainer and retainer well positioned between the mating and outside surface of one of said body portions, the other body portion including an alignment pin extending from the mating face thereof into the groove in said one body portion and contacting the bottom portion of said insert, stop surfaces on said one body portion extending into said groove, and clamping means to clamp said body portions together, said alignment pin serving to pressure said insert against said stop surfaces to retain said insert in the retainer well. 